Vegans upset over local doughnut shop's hiring criteria

A popular northeast Portland doughnut shop is coming under fire over what the owner posted on a help wanted ad.

In the post, Nate Snell who owns Pip's Original Doughnuts, wrote:

"No non-medical, non-religious dietary restrictions that would stop you from tasting, accurately representing our food and maintaining quality control to maintain the highest standards of food safety and excellence. We serve products with meat ( including bacon) nuts, diary and our doughnuts contain wheat gluten."

That has upset a few vegan and vegetarians across the city calling the statement discriminative, some even giving the shop a bad rating on Facebook.

One poster wrote, "Won't return now that I know you discriminate against vegetarians." While another posted, "To not hire otherwise qualified workers because they make a particular dietary choice is unfair."

Snell said he doesn't have a problem with those who are vegan or vegetarian. He just wants to hire people who can enjoy the products he sells.

"If you can't eat our doughnuts, which is the main thing that we do and you can't passionately describe to a customer which doughnut flavor is best because you don't have any personal experience, it is probably not a good fit for you," Snell said.

He adds he understands the vegan and vegetarian lifestyle, saying some of his closest friends stick to the diet.

Snell said it is sad that so many would blast him and his business online without a conversation.

"We are about the community, we are about lifting people up, we're not about breaking them down," Snell said. "Tolerance means treating people with respect and engaging them with respectful compassionate conversation."